Burdekin Falls Dam

This collection of historical photos cover the construction period of the Burdekin Falls Dam.

Photos © Mark Stoneman and reproduced with permission.

Lake Dalrymple is an artificial lake formed by the Burdekin Falls Dam, with construction commencing in 1982, completed in 1987 and officially opened on 14 August 1988. The dam and lake are owned and operated by SunWater. The lake is located approximately 125 kilometers south south-west of Townsville and approximately 75 kilometers south-east of Charters Towers.

The completed Burdekin Falls Dam in 1987 with dam now filling and construction village being wound down.
The completed Burdekin Falls Dam in 1987 with the dam now filling and construction village being wound down. (Photo credit: Mark Stoneman).

The dam capacity is 1,860,000 ML with an area of 22,400 hectares, which equates to approximately four times the size of Sydney Harbor. The dam is the largest in Queensland. The dam wall is 876 meters long with a 504 meter spill way which drops 37 meters to the river bed. The lake is deemed to be a wetland of national significance.

The dam is the key source of water for agricultural and industrial uses and beyond into the Central Queensland coal fields and the urban/industrial centre of Townsville.

Water allocations from the Burdekin Falls Dam are not diverted at the dam but rather released down the Burdekin river and then extracted at various weirs and pump stations in the Lower Burdekin, including Gorge Weir, Blue Valley Weir, Clare Weir and the Haughton Balancing Storage.

The Burdekin Falls Dam operates in conjunction with the existing storages of Clare Weir and Gorge Weir on the Burdekin River, and Val Bird and Giru weirs on the Haughton River at Giru. Pump stations are located on the Burdekin River, within the Clare Weir storage, to divert water to the Haughton, Elliot and Barratta Main Channels.

Lake Dalrymple itself is used recreationally. Fishing and water skiing are popular activities. Species regularly caught in the dam include sooty grunter (black bream) of two species, sleepy cod, archerfish, catfish (both eel tail and fork tail), eel and spangled perch. Yellowbelly and golden perch are being regularly caught – they are accidental releases from farm dams – while Barramundi have been released into the dam but are not regularly caught (Greiner and Hall 2006).

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